Space Blade Online
by Neon-S
Summary: Au: The world's first VRMMORPG is releasing, a game called Space Blade Online. Kazuto and his sister were lucky enough to enter the beta test, but now the official release has unloaded a terrible twist. The players are trapped, no way to get out except by "clearing" all the worlds. This won't be easy, and not everyone wants to leave at all. Worse, if your health hits zero, YOU die.
1. Prologue

**Well, here we go again. SAO has too much potential to pass up, so give me a bit. I'm going to be writing something off-the-wall here, so bear with me. So, let's get some specifics out of the way. This is 100% au, starting over from the beginning of the series. Sword Art Online is a separate VRMMORPG that will be released later along with ALO, but is still Kayaba's. The characters will be kept, with some additions. The death game is a game of my own design. Kirito is not reliant on deus-ex-machinas and plot armor, most of the time, and when I do use these, it'll mostly be for comedic purposes. Speaking of which, WARNING! dumb jokes ahead, as well as harem shenanigans and rather... dark moments. I will probably mess with personalities a good bit. Rating may change. Constructive criticism accepted, I don't want insults, if you don't have advice, keep the hate to yourself, kay? Positive comments or helpful advice is all that I will accept, and zero tolerance will be enforced with flames. Also** **, I can't guarantee update frequency, so I appologize in advance for any long hiatuses that may be in store.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own SAO or any cannon characters, nor any referenced works.**

 **Now then, I present the prologue for your reading enjoyment. See y'all at the end, hopefully.**

* * *

Kazuto Kirigaya was still very young when it happened, too young to remember it. His parents were both killed in car crash with a drunk driver, resulting in him being adopted by his aunt. The result was him growing up with his aunt and cousin as his mom and sister. It wasn't too long after that that his grandpa made him and his cousin, Suguha Kirigaya, start practicing kendo.

 _Why are we here again? This is so boring,_ Kazuto thought to himself. His Grandpa had made him go to a tournament to 'watch the masters,' which Kazuto thought was better than practice. But it was still really boring. The clacks reverberated throughout the area as the boy debated risking his elder's wrath to get his phone out. As the current match came to a close, he sighed, thinking about how this was all stuff he'd seen before. He was a gamer, not an athlete, despite whatever potential his elder thought he could have. Speaking of, there was rumors that someone was developing something called "Full Dive Virtual Reality," and he was very curious as to just what it is. _I'll have to check into it more at some point,_ the young boy thought as the next match began. He looked up, and then, something peculiar happened. His face contorted into awe, and he never looked away for the rest of the match. _Two shinai? Wow, that's AWESOME! It's almost like a video game hero! I could be just like a video game hero if I could learn that._ He looked pensive for but a moment before deciding, _I may as well try, it seems like it's actually interesting, and me saying that about kendo is something!_

Kazuto researched the technique extensively, discovering the practice called Nito Kendo. He researched heavily online, far more heavily than the author cares to do himself, but when he later asked about learning it, he was ordered to master standard kendo first. His grandpa almost found it strange when the young boy started practicing harder than his sister next practice. Barely a year later, he was learning to wield two shinai, and it wouldn't be long before the boy became a real world legend.

* * *

 _Several years later_

Sitting in his room, Kazuto glanced at the NerveGear in his hands, then at a similar, if slightly less professional looking, device on his dresser. That was a full dive device he had made a while back using leaked specs for the NerveGear. Those specs had only included how to compress the necessities into a smaller package, but apparently Akihiko Kayaba of Argus had the same thoughts as him. How his device looked so similar despite being made out of mostly scrap and connected to his computer was beyond strange to the teen.

Even more fascinating was that Argus was not working on a big title for their own platform at the moment, but the rumors were suggesting that they were planning to let a separate company, Revolution, produce the first big game. Having provided all the necessary neurological data to Revolution, Argus was planning to take a cut of the profit, but the piecing together and actual coding of all the facets of the game had fallen to Revolution, or so the rumors said. Kazuto himself knew them to be true because dad/uncle's brother, Ryo Kirigaya, was the one spearheading the game's development. Despite this, Kazuto only knew that the game was in the works, not its name, not its premise, not even when it started or when it's expected release date is, nothing but the fact that it was to be the first VRMMORPG. Heck, he only found out because his uncle let it slip last Christmas on accident, which caused Kazuto to press with little success outside of confirming its existence and that the primary designer was his Uncle Ryo.

Ryo had also explained that Revolution had been the ones to develop the first dive pods, which was what most full dive tech was at this point. These dive pods usually had preset games, and as such, full dive games had been expensive arcade games until the recent, and surprisingly inexpensive, release of the Argus NerveGear. But that, as previously mentioned, had no games aside from really simple things like visual novels, simple sport games, and, unsurprisingly, an 18+ game or two, so take that how you will. Rule 34 was a force to be reckoned with, apparently.

Kazuto sighed and set his game 'controller' to the side, moving to his computer. Having three screens, a clearly custom tower, a high-end headset, and even a needlessly expensive keyboard and mouse set, it was obvious that he was a slightly obsessed technology and gaming junky. He sighed, scrolling through his gaming forums, finding little of interest until something unexpected caught his eye as he scrolled through a news thread, a post/sub-thread by Revolution's media department, "Accepting applications for open beta test." Kazuto always enjoyed looking into games, and, knowing what he knows, was always even quicker to look into Revolution's new releases. He clicked on the link, and saw the new game was titled _Sky and Space: Magic War._ He then sighed, seeing the game was nothing but a deep-story, multi platform, bullet hell game. The beta test was to be a month, though. This wasn't the game he was waiting for, and went back to scrolling. He didn't see a small, obscure line of text at the bottom reading _"Space Blade Online closed_ _beta application in 3 months."_

* * *

 _A couple weeks later_

Kazuto was bored out of his wits. He was in math class, but he already knew most of it. However, he was unfortunate enough to be the one to break the cliché and not be at a window seat, so daydreaming was a little less calming, resulting in... daydreaming anyway, because he still had nothing better to do. This mostly went on until the bell rang and the teacher gave the homework.

Kazuto left quietly as ever, preferring to not deal with the people around him. He found it to be more irritating than it was worth most of the time, but none the less, he had a few friends.

"Yo, Kazuto!"

Speaking of friends. The boy turned to look at the other male, a thinner teen than him, though somehow still more masculine in appearance, well, too an extent, "

Hiro," he acknowledged. 'Hiro' was 17, had laid down hair, freshly bleached to white (his normal hair was brown,) he was nothing shy of a total, stereotypical nerd, glasses and all, and stood at about 6'.

"So, Kaz, you sittin' out the kendo tourney again this year?" The boy with unnaturally white hair asked as the black haired boy put his backpack over his shoulder.

Said boy answered, "Yeah, even if my skills are still high enough, I doubt I'm fit enough to even make it past the prelims anymore."

"Really? You could fix that, I mean, you took home the top spot from lower el to middle school. it can't take that much work to brush up on," Hiro comments.

Kazuto raised an eyebrow, "Why are you suddenly pushing this? You encouraged me to relax that year, whitey."

Hiro didn't even bother to fake being offended, "Maybe because I bothered to check the reward."

He handed the half-athlete-half-gamer a paper with a crap ton of writing. "Hmm?" Kazuto hummed, taking the pamphlet, "I'll check it out later, but I should probably go get my homework finished."

"So that means you can't come to the arcade with us, or hang out after at my place to watch some anime?"

"Arcade? Anime? I guess homework can wait. I already know the stuff anyway. Beating the living daylights out of your little entourage sounds far more entertaining. I assume you plan to do some VR gaming while we're there?"

Hiro let a sweat drop, before answering, "Yeah, the new VRFPS sounds like a fun challenge."

"And what anime did you pick up this time, oh great man of culture?" Kazuto teased, and Hiro puffed up dramatically, "I am pleased to say I chose but one of the best in the collection, the great, the glorious, Boku no Pico!"

"No, I'd rather spare my mind." Kazuto deadpanned, causing Hiro to laugh, "Kidding, kidding. But I did get my mitts on Trigun."

"Ah, now we're talking, meet you at the arcade in a half an hour?" Kazuto answered with a small grin.

Hiro grinned as well, "Your brain really is top notch."

"I know." Hiro rolled his eyes at the boy's self-confidence.

After going home and telling his "little sister," Suguha, his plans for the day, he left for the arcade on his motor bike. Kazuto much preferred this mode of transportation over a car, finding a much higher grade of freedom in it.

He arrived quickly enough to the arcade, apparently too quickly, because as he checked the arcade, he noticed his friends had yet to show up. Sighing, he sat an waited as other streams of people came and went. He found watching other people fascinating, if only because pointing out things they did that wasn't necessarily the best course of action to himself was rather entertaining. What, of course he can do that, he's smarter than probably all of them, and more physically capable then most of them too, even after a couple years off from kendo.

As his thoughts went to kendo, he brought out the flyer, only to get interrupted before looking over it with a familiar, "Yo, Kazuto!"

He looked towards the familiar call and, sure enough saw Hiro and three others walking towards him. "Hey Hiro. Ayumu, Kyo, and Kiyoko, nice of you losers to join us as well," Kazuto replied with joke.

Ayumu was 18, and had dyed his black hair blue, and evidently messed it up on purpose. His outfit consisted of blue wind pants, and a grey sweater, finished with white sneakers. He stood at about 6'2" and was not muscular, though not fat either, leaving about the same width as Kazuto.

Kyo was a girl who was appealing to the eye, curvy and busty, 18 years old, and standing at about 5'5". She had black hair as well, but hers was dyed red and reached her lower back, and her outfit was a short, purple skirt, and a lavender low-cut t-shirt, with blue shoes. She was Ayumu's date.

Her sister, Kiyoko, was 17, and stood about 5'8". She had little in terms of a chest, and was more muscular instead. This was partly because she was only a part time gamer, unlike her die-hard sister and friends, instead taking on athletics as well. Her dark brown hair had been bleached then dyed blue, resulting in her hair being a vibrant turquoise, and it reached her upper back. Her color scheme was almost all blue green and green, though her skirt and top were modest, unlike her sister's.

Ayumu called, "Hey edge lord, what's cracking?"

The group shared a chuckle before Kiyoko spoke, "So, where's this new full dive installment?" when she wasn't studying, practicing sports, or doing something of the like, Kiyoko was rather excitable, in direct contrast to her eternally laid-back sister.

The 16 year-old Kazuto replied, pointing, "Over there, where the line is."

Kyo answered, "We'll have to wait? Guess I'm not surprised."

Hiro chuckled, "Let's just go."

As they went, Kazuto spoke, "You know I'm going to win right?"

The answer was a unanimous, "Not this time!"

They said that, and Kazuto did, in fact, get dominated by them. Predictably they ganged up on him, and it's hard to fight a 1v4 firefight. He was trashed, and Hiro took the win. This left a very salty Kazuto who was muttering something about hating VRFPS games and bad controls. The others were just entertained that he was so salty after losing in an unfamiliar game. All of them, including Kazuto, knew that he wasn't the best with guns. They also knew that he would have obliterated them all in a sword game, magic game, or really any other game. The "great" gamer was too stuck up to try and be a sniper, which he probably would have excelled at. Oh well.

There were a few more games played. Most of these were merely serving as Kazuto's revenge, but they came to an end soon. It was after this that they headed back to Hiro's house. The group looked like a small motorcycle gang. Hiro took the front, Ayumu the back, and the other three camped the center, with Kyo being the center most.

It took very little time to arrive at the white haired boy's house, and Hiro was taking a moment to make some popcorn before playing Trigun while the others argued over extremely serious matters like pineapple pizza and whether or not water's wet. And this where I put in a not-sponsored plug to go watch Trigun. It's available for free streaming on Funimation, and is a better way to spend time than reading this. All hail Vash the Stampede.

Continuing, they watched about 6 episodes before it started to get dark out and the group of friends had to split and go their separate ways. It's here we find Kazuto arriving home and walking up to his room. His "family" mostly leaves him alone now, a fact he is honestly kinda grateful for. Sitting down, he pressed the power button on his computer.

He idly remembered and pulled out the kendo tournament pamphlet while he was waiting for the machine to boot up. It started with some promotion of the event, followed by some basic rules and regulations. Nothing he hadn't seen before.

It continued with the prizes. Trophy/title? Meh, had that before. 1,000 yen? Meh, nothing to put that into right now. Opportunity to participate in the closed beta for Space Blade Online? ... What? An MMO beta as a prize for a kendo tournament? What is this MMO? His computer booted up and he checked a forum. There, in Revolution's stream quietly stood an announcement trailer. Kazuto watched the trailer, and up until the end it seemed like standard fare. But at the end he saw one little tidbit that read "coming to the NerveGear in 2022." It may only be 2020 now, but he wasn't missing this chance to get way early acceptance into this game's beta. _I guess it's time to brush up on my skills, huh?_

* * *

 _Oh look, another time skip._

Well, so far two and a half months of training haven't been in vain. He'd finally reached the tournament finals. Using is twin shinai, there wasn't much in his way that lasted as Kazuto Kirigaya quickly became one of two front-runners. He had heard the name of the other front runner and it felt oddly familiar.

Walking on to the mat as he heard his name called, he breathed slowly. In... Out... In... Out...

He looked up calmly as his opponent's name was called. He saw shoulder length black hair. The girl had an excitable but determined expression. She held her shinai with one hand, and but the stance, though weird, was familiar. Her name and appearance... When it suddenly clicked to Kazuto, the world around him seemed to fall silent and all he could hear was his rapidly spiking heart rate.

 _Flashback (Or a backwards time skip!)_

 _Kazuto was only in first grade or so the last time he saw her, a girl the same age as him, the daughter of a family friend. For first time nine months which Kazuto would swear off as plot convenience, he remembered that last time he saw her._

 _It was the summer before he entered grade school. Sadly, summer was coming towards its end. A family his parents were friends with had come over to visit, and Kazuto was fighting a girl of the same age with a foam sword. He himself was smiling, happier than he would be for a long time, and that was saying a lot cause he would still very much enjoy the next few years of his life. He was wearing a bright blue t-shirt and cool green shorts._ _The other girl wore an almost identical expression along with a light blue t-shirt and dark blue jean shorts._

 _Suguha had been rendered a referee in this match after having her butt kicked by the similar, if much thinner, girl. The fight had been going on for a while, but in the end, he won when the girl made a reckless side strike. Against most people his age, that would have ended fine, but with these two, the first even light mistake was the end. The sword was slapped up, and the point of Kazuto's sword was at the girl's neck._

 _Kazuto then jumped away and did a little victory dance as the other girl pouted. Sugaha was pleased that her brother got revenge for her. The girl was being adorable, "It's not fair! No matter how much I practice, I can't beat you!"_

 _Sugaha would cut in, "That's cause he's the best! No one can beat onii-chan!"_

 _Kazuto swung his sword dramatically, "That's right! I'm Kazuto, the great hero who will save the world!"_

 _Sugaha laughed, "Only if I can be your partner!"_

 _Kazuto would jump excitedly, "Okay! We'll save the world together!"_

 _The other girl would perk up and laugh an adorable evil laugh, "Only if you can beat me and my dragon! We'll rule over the entire world, and you won't ever stop me! Mwahaha!"_

 _The three kids entertained themselves entertained themselves, and somehow managed to convince their parents to let them sleep outside in a tent in their yard. Suguha had agreed to run in to get goldfish and juice boxes._

 _In the meantime, Kazuto and his young friend were pointing out 'constellations' when the other girl grew a bit sad, "Kazuto. You know we're moving, right?"_

 _Kazuto nodded and seemed a bit serious when he answered, "I know, but we'll still see each other again, even if you move to the other side of the world!"_

 _The other girl nodded, hopeful, "You promise, right? I can't take over the world without a hero to fight."_

 _He would nod, "Of course! I promise. We'll always be friends!" At this time Suguha came back out as they kept themselves busy for a good while before Kazuto's mom came out and made them go to bed._

 _The girl and her family would leave the next morning, and it would be the last time they'd see each other for almost 10 years. She'd be mostly forgotten by Kazuto within only two years. But seven years later, seventh grade, Kazuto's personality would finally change for the worse. This was when he managed to hack into the records. He found out that Suguha was not his sister but his cousin. That his mom was actually his aunt on his mom's side. He also found out he had a sister by blood. This fact shook Kazuto, along with that she went to live with his birth dad's sister. He tried to file this knowledge away, hold it close, but the stresses that came with high school made remembering this lose priority, and he forgot the name over a year ago. A name that had seemed familiar. Both parts of the puzzle had been forgotten until now. Now they clicked, he remembered his twin sister and close friend. He remembered the name that would keep a promise. The name:_

 _Yuuki Konno._

* * *

Returning to the present, the pounding of his heart was all Kazuto could hear as the revelation, the memories, hit him like a ton of bricks. He looked into her eyes and apparently it hadn't hit her yet. He calmed himself, it was just Yuuki. No small talk until after, but he could still have a bit of fun. One more trip back into the old times. He'd be a sad hero if he couldn't stop so simple a villain. A duel for the title, the money, and most importantly, the beta test. Staring her dead in the eye, his determination to win spiked. (note: This kendo match won't quite look like real life. I'm taking some creative liberty to create an exhilarating battle. Thank you for understanding.)

With a stance that was speed focused, Kazuto held his twin shinai with confidence. Across from him, Yuuki held a balanced one-handed style, though her other hand was close enough to use a second hand to try to counter any more powerful strike that may come. Start was called and Kazuto made the first move. Yuuki was expecting speed, but she wasn't used to fighting someone this fast. Kazuto's strikes came in with terrifying speed and precision. Left horizontal, right stab, left feint into right horizontal. The attacks continued in this manner, but Yuuki was no less impressive, and though she couldn't seem to get an attack in, she parried every strike creating a slow machine gun-like effect with the clacks. Try as Kazuto did, not one of his attacks would land. Seeing his left and right arms up and to the side respectively, and went to call her strike on his left wrist when she heard a shout. "DO!" Kazuto cried this and felt his shinai hit her side. He took the first point, and smiled for it. Exactly as planned. Yuuki meanwhile was thinking, _Damn, he's good. But thinking back, his wrists are pretty wide open. I may only get one more shot at this. He clearly lured me there last time, so I do need to watch for that._

The next match started, and this Yuuki charged in as Kazuto did the same. This time, however, the equation felt a lot more balanced as Kazuto frequently had to block or parry. The blows went back and forth, as neither fighter gave an inch. Kazuto would strike vertical followed by horizontal, only to have to parry a thrust at his throat. A slash thrust combo would be followed by a strike at his head. Had just moved to block a side cut and strike her head. He realized too late that her trajectory had changed and he felt a tap on his wrist before his strike could connect. Yuuki had grinned and shouted, "KOTE!" One to one. Kazuto and Yuuki both began to think about the next plan of attack. Kazuto frowned, _It comes down to this. I need to focus a bit more on the guard this time without letting up on my attack. This is gonna push me to my limit. She'll see through my faints and baits now. But I can't lose! She'll probably never let me live it down if I do, and I do still want that beta opportunity._ Yuuki, meanwhile, had a similar track playing, _I won't be able to pull that twice, he'll be on guard for tricks now, just as I am. This'll push my limits to the end. but I can't lose. That beta chance is mine!_

Start on the third match was called. Almost immediately the competitors who stayed to watch realized that these two were truly in another league from them. The clacks rang out almost too quick as the twins were immediately absorbed in the fight. They had now blocked out everything but themselves and each other. Every move the other made was countered early enough and the advantage went back and forth so quickly almost no one could tell who truly had the advantage, and those that could saw it was too small to be taken advantage of. Every strike from Kazuto was parried, each from Yuuki blocked. Each block or parry left both back where they started. Eventually, Yuuki began to gain ground. Then Kazuto took it back. Slowly both began slowing down and breathing heavier, but neither seemed to notice. Kazuto went for broke with a horizontal strike as they both finally realized they were getting tired. Yuuki countered with a thrust. "DO!" "TSUKI!" Yuuki took a hit to the side. Kazuto felt a thrust to the throat. The result was a draw. They both set up again. This time their thoughts were the same, _I can't let this go on much longer. This is it._

The fourth match began. Though slower, neither side gave an inch, yet again. This particular fight wasn't so fore thought heavy and both players were more defensive, trying to regain their breath enough to go more offence again. Through this, all the spectators could tell this fight was winding down. Kazuto discarded his second shinai, as both reverted back to basics. For a moment, Kazuto thought he was looking at a young girl with a foam sword again as a familiar attack came in. he faltered a bit, but still managed a block. Yuuki faltered a moment later as he remembered one of his signature strikes from all that time ago. She too blocked as a bit of confusion flickered through her mind. The fight grew less consistent after that as both competitors started playing safe. Time was called.

The last match began the same as the next as they got their minds back in it, and the bit of rest towards the end allowed the speed to pick up just a bit, and only for a bit. But eventually one had to falter as the clacks slowly slowed their tempo. But finally, the end came. Kazuto saw a familiar strike, she opened too wide to the side, and it was over, "Tsuki!" she felt the hit on the throat, and she knew she lost. But the familiar situation haunted her a moment before his next line caused the memories to hit her like a wet towel whip, "Kept my promise, and slayed the dark lord. I'm still the hero."

A man was in the balcony. He was pleased by the fight he saw, but he could only smile for a different reason, remembering all those years ago. He supposed he might be able to pull a few strings to get them both in the beta at least.

* * *

Yuuki walked out of the arena in a daze. _I nearly forgot about him, even after mom told me. He found me, and so soon after I came home? Not only that, but he remembered? Was that perhaps what flickered in his eyes when he saw me?_ She was startled from her musings by a certain voice, "Hey, Yuuki! Why're you running!?"

Turning around, she saw the effeminate black-haired boy running towards her, somehow not hitting the people he was in the middle of, "Kazuto?" she smiled hopefully.

"Long time no see, huh," he commented in response before suddenly being taken off guard by the girl suddenly appearing in his arms.

"Took ya' long enough, ya' doof. I almost forgot about you..." she'd state, clearly a bit emotional but also happy. By this point they were ignoring their surroundings.

He hugged her back, glad that he finally got to see his twin sister again, "Same, but I'm glad we didn't... sis."

She blinked, "Your adoptive parents told you too?"

"Only when I pressed them after hacking the records. I've become quite the techie. That's actually why I entered this tourney, to get into the beta test offered," he'd talk happily.

"Hehe, that makes two of us. I wanted the beta too," she'd smile, a little sad she lost though.

He was about to tease her when another voice, one Kazuto hadn't heard in a while cut in, "I might be able to help with that, if you want."

Kazuto turned and addressed the man approaching with mild reverence, "Uncle Ryo." The same man from the balcony, he was tall, thin, and pale, clearly spending too much time inside. He looked tired, but he also looked happy, excited even, "You'd be willing to?"

He'd nod assuredly while guiding them to a less crowded location, "Sure. You are both relatives, and you did put on one heck of a show in there," he then looked to Yuuki seriously, "You'll still have to apply of course. But I think you two both really deserve it. It might help you bond after all that time. Speaking of, long time no see, kiddo."

Yuuki grinned hugged the man grateful and happy to see Kazuto's cool uncle again, "Hello Ryo-san! Thank you, too!"

He laughed. Suguha then seemed to come in out of nowhere with a loving hug, "Congrats on your win, Onii-chan!"

He smiled awkwardly, still not good at interacting with his step-sister, "Ah, thanks."

She turned to the other two, and confusion would flicker across her face again, "Hello Uncle Ryo! And, um...?"

Ryo waved as Yuuki faked offence, speaking with over-the-top hand motions, "Oh come on, the fight didn't ring any bells? I'm your old friend, Yuuki Konno!"

"Yuuki? ... Oh yeah, the one person who'd reliably beat me aside from onii-chan. Who let you back?" she teased as her memories returned easier.

"Hah hah. My family finally moved back!" she'd say happily, practically bouncing. Both Kazuto and Suguha seemed very pleased and promptly started peppering her with questions as Ryo slipped away to talk to their families at a nearby table.

* * *

One month later, Yuuki and Kazuto received the closed beta for the game Space Blade Online. Like Kazuto, Yuuki had long had a NerveGear. These two items sealed their fates. Their lives would never be the same, and their lives would become a mess. Would they stay strong, will they turn, or maybe, will they die? Only time will tell as we enter the saga of Space Blade Online.

* * *

 **If you're still here, thanks for bearing with that mess. Not sure how it'll compare to the rest of the story, but I'm still happy you gave me a bit of your time. I know my jokes are crappy. Shut up. I don't need your crap... They made me laugh, alright!? That counts for something? Bargain with me, please. Dumb comedy act aside, this chapter took me quite a while to make, and I can give no guarantees on when the next update will be. So while patiently waiting, join my forum, Of Light, Night, and Heart. Until next time!**


	2. Chapter 1

**Well, I started this chapter the day after I posted the prologue. Wonder when it will be up. I honestly don't have much planned yet, and I'm debating whether or not I should accept oc's. If you think I should allow oc's, please let me know. I don't have much else, but thank you all for 100 views in roughly 24 hours.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online or the cannon characters.**

 **Now then! On with the show!**

* * *

Kazuto was more excited now than had been in 5 months. It was finally the release day of Space Blade Online, and Kazuto, like another 100,000 gamers, couldn't be more hyped for the Japanese release alone. The launch was a worldwide simultaneous launch, and almost 5,000,000 copies have already been sold so far, and there were still more selling. Reports were suggesting that Revolution and the investors had already secured a hefty profit off the game. Having played the beta, Kazuto knew this was for good reason. It was a pretty damn good game, no other way to describe it. So hyped were Kazuto and Yuuki over the game that Sugaha had actually got their uncle to get her a release copy.

Yuuki was at her house and Sugu in her room. They had agreed to meet up in the town center at launch, but there was still much time before that happened, so Kazuto was on his computer watching some message boards and news streams. As the end of the latest trailer flickered of the screen with the gaming news reporter talking over, it showed a group of guys proudly showing off the games that they had camped several days in front of the store for, just so they could be assured a copy. Kazuto chuckled, some people were _very_ dedicated it seems. Though he also had to admit he would have done the same if he hadn't gotten the beta.

None of his few friends from school had been able to get their hands on the game it seemed, a fact that saddened him for now. He again gazed at the NerveGear-like contraption on his shelf. The fact that he had been able to configure it to play SBO during the beta was a truly amazing thing, in his mind. Sure, it's power output was lower, the graphics weaker, and it would often lag or have generally lower response time, but the fact that it worked at all and got decent results made Kazuto very proud. Despite this, there was no way he wasn't using the higher quality NerveGear for the launch. Maybe later if he felt like showing off? Eh, we'll see.

Kazuto wondered what all was changed from the beta. He knew that making it the exact same would defeat the point of the beta, but what would change was anyone's guess at this point. He knew Ryo was a rather eccentric and unpredictable personality, so anything goes depending on the time changes would take.

* * *

Finally, the time was about to arrive. Kazuto had just re-calibrated the NerveGear to make sure it was fully set, and was now laying down awaiting the last few seconds to slip by. He was so excited his hands were sweaty and shaking.

He breathed in.

The clock struck 7.

Across the nation, and later the world, voices called out, "Link start!" With this, the first VRMMORPG launched and many lives would be changed. It would be one to two hours before news would really begin to spread of the people dying when those outside took the gear off. The players in the game, however. had about three hours before the game became anything but.

Suguha watched in awe as the colors flickered past. The character create menu flickered to life, and she put together a pretty, blonde bomb-shell, elf like character because, ya' know, why not? The text box for naming the character appeared as she finished. She named the character Leafa.

A brown haired girl put together a curiously muscular female character. The character was given the name Lisbeth.

A young chestnut haired child put together a pretty adult avatar. Silica struggled to walk at first spawn, much to her chagrin.

Klein could be easily described as a bandit, and many of his friends fit a similar bill. They were apparently more used to fantasy than sci-fi...

A thin girl with black hair created a character that seemed rather innocuous. A very generic looking girl. Sachi looked around happily as her friends slowly joined her.

A girl in glasses created a fascinating design that seemed actually practical. The avatar was very athletic in appearance, and very much male. Sinon looked around this world curiously, excited to dive right in.

A large, dark skinned, bald man created a character that actually matched his appearance well. Agil looked around, glad his wife let him try the game first.

A smallish blonde girl had her shady male character already made. Argo wondered who she could sell information to first. Those juicy credits were calling to them.

Yuuki signed in, excited to finally enter the release. in her excitement, she took her old design and accidentally entered her own name. She looked like a space captain honestly. Looking around sheepishly as she immediately noted the error, she tried to find Kazuto and Sugu.

A chestnut blonde tried her best to recreate herself in real life. Entering her own name, Asuna looked around in wonder and confusion, not sure where to start.

Kazuto smiled as he used his old character and old game name. A Kirito that honestly looked like your stereotypical sci-fi shonen hero was ready to take on the world with his physics-defying spiky hair. Or so he thought.

* * *

Kirito ran through futuristic city, happy to be back. Yuuki was alternating between following behind and keeping up as she danced about happily. Kirito was struggling to contain the amusement he got from Yuuki's failure to enter a player name. Leafa was merely jogging behind with an amused expression as she observed the twins' antics. However the cry of a player shouting, "Hey!" stopped their egress.

Turning to look, they saw a scruffy rogue-ish player running up to them. The player would continue, looking at Kirito and Yuuki, "Hey, you two are running around like you know every twist and turn of this place! You were beta testers, right?"

Kirito and Yuuki would look at each other then nod, "Yeah, why?"

The bandit-like player would continue with that, "Please teach me the ropes! You have two testers and only one newbie with you who still looks more skilled than me, so please help me out!" He'd pause a moment, "I'm Klein by the way."

The two testers and one pre-taught swordswoman looked at each other and nodded after taking a moment to convers. Kirito would then answer, "I'm Kirito, the girl who tried to look like a space captain is Yuuki, and the the one who's compensating for what she doesn't lack anyway is Leafa. We'll help ya' out."

Klein was tempted to try and be a flirt as the other two pouted at Kirito's snarky descriptions, but learning the game was more important at this moment in time.

* * *

Upon leaving the highly futuristic city, Klein and Suguha who were only just getting over the shock of the near perfect graphics were hit by the image of a very earth-like world, or rather, plains. The green expanse spread out as far as the eye could see, only interrupted by gentle rolling of hills. Well, that and the number of assorted monsters being hunted by assorted players of varying races.

Kirito and Yuuki nodded to each other before Yuuki spoke, "This place has pretty low levels and a decent spawn rate. Should be perfect for you two to learn this game's mechanics. While actually knowing how to use a weapon in real life can help, this game does really require you to know its mechanics, and they can be a pain."

Kirito would cut in, "Yep. This should been made obvious by the pain of a menu," Said menu had more drop-downs than a thin boy without a belt, "But now we get to work with combat. Now whoever thought taking a jrpg, adding multiple worlds and spaceships, then replacing magic with technology and pseudo-science was a good idea, I'm not sure if they were genius or just had a screw lose, but it throws a few wrenches in a lot of things."

"i'd imagine," Klein would mutter, having thought the same thing himself about the creators.

Kirito nodded, "First, you don't get weapon skills. See, you don't generally have individual weapons in this game. You, rather, have one handle for each type of weapon that you want to use. A sword handle, spear shaft, knife handle, bow grip, heck even scythe shafts. There's a lot of weapon options, and each one has a handle you can buy. You can then spend weapon points to level these, in the same way you level up the rest of your skills. Skills are generally non combat or passive, and are generally leveled through your ordinary skill points."

Leafa was blinking in confusion, though Klein seemed to get the idea.

Yuuki cuts in, "The weapons themselves are actually these," she pulled her one-handed sword, or, the handle anyway, from her side, and popped a small canister out from the bottom using a button. The canister itself was glowing blue, while the handle lost its blue grid-like lines, becoming a simple metal cylinder. She held up the glowing canister, "This is the beginner's one-handed word." They blinked as she put it back in the handle, and it re-embellished itself.

Pressing what made itself out to be an obvious power button, a blue energy blade extended from the handle, looking to be a basic arming sword with a glowing blue blade. The energy was kind enough to form a cross-guard too. "The power buttons don't even try to hide, so that should help ya'," Yuuki would quip in conclusion.

Klein took out his one-handed sword handle, which, unlike Kirito's and Yuuki's, was glowing a pale orange, "Please, I'm pretty sure that anyone who could turn on the NerveGear could tell you press the giant power button to turn on the sword." To punctuate this fact, he pressed the power button, and from the handle materialized a pale, orange, glowing scimitar.

Yuuki ignored Klein's comment as Kirito's face met his palm, "Congratulations! You drew your sword! You try, Leafa."

Leafa, on the other hand, had a much longer handle, a two-handed one, and it glowed a pale white in the etchings that the hidden canisters tended to make on the handles. She obeyed, rolling her eyes at Yuuki's over-the-top antics. The white immaterial blade of a European-style longsword materialized.

Yuuki again clapped, but was cut off by Kirito, "Alright, lets get to work on things that are actually important before Yuuki makes a bigger fool of herself."

Kirito guided them towards a monster as Yuuki pouted, where he began to explain the game's combat, "You see, combat in this world can be helped by having real world skill, but really even a beginner to swords will likely be fine here. See, while normal combat, combos and the like, are based on your own skill with a sword and helpful in PvP, against mobs you have access to the typical MMO idea of skills. While other skills are improved simply by delegating skill points from a level up, the actual active skills are improved through a technique point system, based on the number of monsters you used the active skills on. You start with with a few basic skills, and by using them to earn technique points, you can upgrade the ones you already have, or buy new skills."

Klein seemed to get what was being said, but Yuuki had to dumb it down for Leafa, "What he's saying is skills increase with level ups through points, and special attacks can be improved or bought by using more special attacks." Now Leafa nodded in understanding, to the other two sibling's pleasure.

Kirito then continued, "Now then, if you open the menu, you'll see your list of skills. If you look in the active skills, you'll see the special attacks you can use now. If you look at the special attacks, you can see the activation-motion for each. For example, the basic one-handed skills are Vertical, Horizontal, and Linear. Horizontal is performed like this," he approached an unsuspecting slime monster, and pulled his sword back to his side after summoning it. His sword suddenly glowed much brighter, before Kirito started the motion of the attack, and the system finished it. The slime burst into polygons.

"Activation motion, wait to feel it register, start the motion for the strike. As long as you focus on the target, you'll hit," Yuuki grinned as Kirito returned with a nod. Klein and Leafa nodded in acknowledgement as their overly complicated menus appeared in front of them. They flipped through them until they found their skills. For the next while, slime after slime perished to the duo learning the ins and outs of the skill system. Or at least, in Leafa's case. Klein took a few tries, and a hit to the balls, while trying to figure it out. He got the double lesson of there being no pain in the game, and how to use sword skills!

* * *

A few hours of grinding passed. Klein had quickly realized that you tended to level very slow in this game. Kirito was quick to affirm this, adding that it slowed down exponentially if you fought lower level enemies. In line with this, each member of the quartet had only advanced a half a level. Still, it WAS getting late, and at the moment, the four sat on top of a hill, overlooking the plains, with the incredibly futuristic capital in the distance. The twin moons hovered overhead, slowly growing brighter as night fell.

"Wow, this is... amazing," Klein spoke, "It's all so real, and yet, so fantastic."

Leafa was inclined to agree, "Yeah, it's beautiful."

Yuuki smiled, "Almost every world in this game has some point that will leave you awed."

Kirito said nothing, they already knew he came to play, not to sight see.

They were interrupted by Klein's stomach, "Welp, it's getting late. I should log out and get some food." He opened his menu.

"Pity eating here only makes you feel full. The real world is such an inconvenience," Yuuki joked, causing Kirito to smile, and Klein and Leafa to give small laughs.

"Well, that's why I ordered a pizza before logging in, should be getting here soon."

Klein's statement got amused reaction from the siblings in the same house and a Yuuki wishing she had thought of that.

Then, Klein's smile fell into a look of confusion, "Uh... Kirito? Yuuki?"

"Yeah?" they answered in sync.

"The log out button's supposed to be at the bottom of the main page of the menu, right?"

"Yes?" came the twin's answer, their expressions confused. Leafa was even more confused.

"Yeah, it's not there," he answered as he began flipping through the rest of the convoluted menu.

Yuuki and Kirito followed suit, and sure enough, the log out button was not there. Worry began to set in as Yuuki immediately sent a message to the GM and Kirito imitated Klein and flipped through the rest of the menu. Kirito then added, "It's nowhere in the menu at all."

"There's no emergency log out commands? No other ways out?" Klein asked, wanting to cover all bases.

Kirito shook his head, "No, only way out is through the log out button... what are you doing?"

"Taking off the NerveGear of course," Klein answered, trying to take off an invisible hat. Yuuki stifled a laugh as Kirito gave a the deadest of deadpans.

"The NerveGear doesn't allow you to move your real body. It'd be a disaster if it did."

Then came Klein's eloquent, well thought out, and complexly worded response, "Well shit."

Yuuki then spoke, "This must have the GM's freaking out about now, so I'm sure we'll be out soo-"

They were cut off by a forced teleport.

* * *

"-oon," Yuuki finished as the several hundred thousand Japanese players appeared in the square in the middle of the capital. All the futuristic devices in the capital seemed to shut down, so the area was only filled with noise of almost a million confused players.

* * *

 **Holy hiatus! I apologize. I have a real problem with writer's block, so, for the record, the next chapter may be a while. I just really wanted to get it out, same reason it's short. I know not much happens, I'm sorry.**


End file.
